A Different Kind of Captain
by Phalset
Summary: A single chance encounter during one person's childhood has consequences that reach across the entire world.
1. A Different Kind of Captain

DISCLAIMER: All characters within this story are not mine. I am using them without permission.

A/N: This is my first story posted here and it's a bit sloppy. Let me know about any drastic problems and I'll fix them. Thanks in advance. I'll soon be adding a bit in my profile about my inspiration for this story.

**_Eight Years Ago_**

Several men were eating together at a large wooden table in the mess of a large wooden ship. Their rather uncivilized eating habits were interrupted by a jovial voice shouting from a newly opened door, "Hey captain! Look what we found sneaking around in the cargo hold!" He was carrying in his tight grip a little girl, probably about ten years old.

"Oh? What have we here? A stowaway?" The captain walks over to the girl, looking into her eyes. Before she could give an answer, someone else plowed through the door.

"Captain! We just found a dinghy tied to the side of the ship!"

The captain turned back to the girl, "Ah! I see now. Not a stowaway. A theif! Impressive that you managed to even get on board. Have anything to say for yourself, girl?"

Unlike what one would expect, the girl was not stricken with terror, but rather furious with anger. "I don't have anything to say to you, pirate scum! Do what you want to me, but I won't bow down to evil people like you!" Then she proceeded to spit on his face.

The captain looked shocked for a moment, before breaking into a large grin as he wiped his face clean, "Ya hear that boys, I'm evil!" At this everyone in the room broke into a loud round of laughter.

The girl just seemed to grow more angry, finally, when it appeared she could get no angrier, she yelled, "Shut up!" And they did. In fact a couple of the more drunk ones even fell unconscious. The captain turned his smile back to the girl.

"How interesting. I've never seen someone as young as you use an ability like that. You haven't eaten a devil's fruit or something like that have you? You can still swim?" He motioned for her captor to let go of her.

"Of course I can swim! What kind of idiot would go to sea without being able to swim!" She took up a basic fighting stance.

The man laughed, "I see. Why don't you sit down with us and tell us your story. If you are desperate enough to do something like that on instinct alone, there must be a desperate story to go along with it. Feel free to have some food, eating is much more enjoyable than fighting, after all. If the story is any good, I might just let you steal a couple things when you leave. "

The girl relaxed slightly as she warily eyed the room, "Okay… what's your name?"

"My name? You slip aboard my ship without knowing my name? How daring! Stupid too. But, if you really want to know, my name is Shanks."

* * *

_**Present Time**_

Zoro sighed as the sun set. The ropes restraining him were rather uncomfortable. He considered slipping out of them and putting them back on in the morning before the incompetent marines checked on him, but he really didn't want to be declared an outlaw by the marines. A bounty would make everything more troublesome, how could he collect on other people's bounties if he had one himself? Staying was the only option, a month stuck here was no big deal, he could finish his time and then be on his way.

A few days with no exercise was making him rather antsy. He was coping alright without the food, but some water would have been nice. Normally he wasn't one for thinking much, but since sleep wasn't coming easy that's all he had to do at the moment. Thinking about his life. Thinking about his goals. Thinking about where he's supposed to go from here.

After several hours deep in thought about what he would do when this month was over, his internal monologue was interrupted as he noticed someone sitting on the wall directly in front of him. It was a girl just sitting there, grinning at him. It was a very annoying grin, as if she was rubbing his miserable situation in his face. She hopped off the wall and started towards him, her footsteps not making a sound. Her clothing and her movements clearly identified her as a someone trained in stealth. Probably in fighting too. A few wisps of bright orange hair peaking out from under the black bandanna she was wearing was the only thing that made her stand out at all. Oh, and that stupid smile.

That smile really pissed him off, "You know, girl, this probably isn't the safest place for you to be."

She giggled at that, further annoying him, "No need to worry about me Mr. 'Pirate Hunter.' I can take care of myself. Although, it looks like you might be in need of a bit of help."

He grunted at her, "I can get out of here anytime I want, just go away if you don't want to die."

Her smil continued to make him angry, "Oh, I have no doubt of that, though you lack anyway to resolve this situation without either becoming a wanted man, or slaughtering the whole marine base. The first option would be very annoying, and the second is doomed to failure as surely someone would notice what happened and report it."

This annoying girl was pushing his limits, "Yeah? And I suppose you have some sort of miracle solution?"

She giggled again, driving him closer and closer to madness, "I propose that you let me untie you and be happy that I bribed the marine that's taking over for Captain Morgan to forget about you." She took out a knife and cut his ropes, his urge to strangle her for the annoying giggles was suppressed by his shock at being saved by this strange girl, "Exposing Morgan's crimes to higher ranked marines may mean that I lose out on a source of income, as he was a very easy guy to steal from, but I saw no other way to rescue you when his idiot son was bragging about your upcoming execution."

His eyes went wide as he realized this girl might have saved him from not just a month of torture, but from death, not that he would have let them kill him, but sleeping at an inopportune moment has caused trouble in the past, so he wouldn't be overly surprised at being caught off guard. Not that he would admit he had a sleeping problem.

"So what is it you want? You don't just save someone's life without something in it for yourself."

She just smiled that annoying smile as she handed him his swords, confusing him as he hadn't seen anyplace she could have been carrying them. "Oh, you don't _have_ to do anything. Although I would like to extend to you an offer to join my crew."

"A crew? What kind of crew? I'm not going to be a pirate. People may say I'm a bad guy, but I'm not a criminal."

The girl rolled her eyes, "I rather detest that word. If someone has a ship, and the marines don't like 'em, they're a 'pirate'. For now, no marines of importance know of me, and I have no intent to cause any real crimes, so my crew will not technically be pirates. However, in due time, I doubt we can avoid being labeled as such. No one who gets into fights can avoid the label for long without joining the Marines." She sighed, "Mostly, I think we'll end up fighting and capturing pirates, it won't be too different from what you're already doing. Though eventually some corrupt Marine bastard is probably going to give one of us a bounty for some stupid reason or another."

Zoro considered his options. He could leave on his own and continue on as he had. That would be alright, but it wouldn't really help him. He was rather bad with directions, so he couldn't really look for people on his own. He'd never find that man if he kept wandering on his own, he'd just wander around capturing pathetic rookie pirates. He was already having trouble advancing his strength any further. He didn't know much about this girl, but if she wasn't full of hot air, joining her crew could turn out interesting. "Alright, I'll join your crew. Just remember one thing, if you stand in the way of my dream, your life is forfeit."

The girl nodded, clearly pleased by this development, "And what dream would that be?" She asked in a sweet voice.

"I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman." He used his fiercest voice in an attempt to intimidate her.

"Perfect! I think you make a rather good first crew member." Her smile was beginning to get rather annoying again.

"First?" He groaned, "Do you at least have a decent ship, _captain_?"

"Oh yes, I have a wonderful ship. I made it myself." Great, he just agreed to be the first mate of a girl with a pathetic home made ship. He sighed, but found it strangely easy to take solace in the fact that she wasn't a complete idiot.

Lost in his thoughts he almost bumped into her as they arrived at the docks, "And here is my ship!" She declared in that sickly sweet voice that somehow projected a sense of smug superiority as well as girlish innocence.

Deciding that mental complaints about her voice weren't getting him anywhere, he took a look at the ship and blinked. He blinked again. Then he rubbed his eyes. It was probably the strangest ship he'd ever seen. Not that it was shoddy, in fact it looked surprisingly well made, but the design was like no other ship he'd ever seen. It was certainly small compared to the giant ships that he'd seen in use by Marines and pirates, it could probably only support up to a crew of six or so at the most. Even with its small size, it looked quite impressive, especially if she really did make it herself. The materials and finish were obviously top quality. The hull was painted a dark blue and the deck above was a solid black, save for the carved designs on the short rail posts strung together with line along the edge of the ship, which retained a wood-grain finish. It was maybe about 40 feet long, not including the bowsprit, and it sat very low in the water for it's length. Zoro quickly revised that thought, it wasn't that it sat low in the water, it's just that the deck was much closer to the water and the cabin didn't rise more than a few inches above the deck. The entire interior of the boat was below the level of the dock. There was a recessed area in the middle, underneath the boom hanging behind the main mast with seating, the steering wheel, and doors to the rear and front areas of the interior. Overall, the design seemed solid, but decidedly strange compare to what he was used to. The strangest part of all to Zoro had to be the sail layout. There were two masts and each had a boom coming off the back, something he didn't see very often. It meant that the ship must be using those weird kind of sails. He had seen lateen sails and gaff-rigged sails on the mizzen-mast of a couple ships and on some tiny boats, and a couple other of those weird triangular sails, but never had he seen a ship bigger than a dinghy without any square sails at all. This ship however, clearly was not rigged for any square sails. Those triangle sails never made much sense to him, if the sails are going from the front of the ship to the back, how is it supposed to catch as much wind?

The girl smiled, "I call it the 'World's Compass.' I know it's an unusual design, but I've talk to all sorts of experts and this is perfect for what I want. It's small compared to those behemoths most pirates and marines sail, but it's most definitely the fastest ship in east blue. And one of the most maneuverable ships of its size in the world. It can practically sail directly upwind! It would be nice to have a bit more room for cargo, and there is no armament to speak of, but it fits my needs. We can sleep now and set sail in the morning. My room is in the back, make sure you stay out. Feel free to sleep anywhere in the front cabin."

Zoro, shrugged, not sure if he believed much that she was saying, but he couldn't bring himself to care. As long as there was someplace to sleep, one ship is as good as another. He was about to figure out where he could get some sleep before he realized something, "So _captain_, you told me your ship's name, but you never told me yours."

The girl's constant grin widened as she hopped onto the ship, "Of course, how could I forget? My name is Nami!"


	2. Buggy Balls and a Boy with a Hat

**Buggy Balls and a Boy with a Hat**

Even sailing 'The fastest ship in East Blue', the trip to wherever Nami was taking them was taking forever. It didn't help that Nami insisted stopping on some uninhabited island that was nothing more than a giant rock. Apparently she kept a stash of supplies there and was almost out of map-making material onboard the ship. For the most part, Zoro just slept, but he had to spend part of his time manning the sails. At first he found them rather annoying, but it turned out that it was a fairly simple process, even if he resented the fact that Nami could somehow get the boat going faster than he could.

Nami's grin never seemed to leave her face. Not until he asked what they what her plans were. She told him a bit about her history, how her home was held captive by a group of fishmen. "I know, between the two of us, Arlong doesn't stand a chance. I've been training to take him down since the first time I went off on my own to steal from pirates, and I could probably even take him down on my own, but I doubt I could truly get a one on one fight with him. I'm best at fighting a weak group or a strong single opponent, but I don't have much experience fighting several strong fighters at once. I could try to avoid that by paying him off like he wants me to, but I doubt that will work. I think the only thing that will get through his head is a fist." Tears started to come to her eyes, "He may have killed my mother, but her sacrifice will not be in vain. Soon that nightmare will be over for everyone, and my home will finally be free."

Zoro was usually uncomfortable around crying girls, but from his perspective Nami didn't really count as a girl, though he couldn't quite decide what she did count as. He was able to narrow her down to one of two categories. She was either a crazed genius, or the most convincing liar he'd ever met. Either way, he had to say something, "Arlong is already dead, he just doesn't know it yet."

Nami's disturbing smile returned, "That's the spirit! But first we need to make a stop to steal a certain map."

Zoro stared at Nami in disbelief, "You need a map? What kind of map could you possibly need?"

Nami's smile did not falter for a second, "A map to the Grand Line, of course."

Zoro's snorted, "You actually expect me to believe that you don't already know how to get to the Grand Line?"

Nami shrugged, "Well, it was worth a try."

"So what's the real reason?"

"A test, of course! We need to test our skills before we go. I know I'll do fine, but I can't just drag you to the Grand Line if you aren't ready."

Zoro sighed, "So now we're going to the Grand Line?"

Nami nodded, "Of course! You don't think I'd stop at defeating Arlong, do you? I'm going to rid the world of people like him."

"So what's this test about then?"

"The man with this map should be a bit of a challenge. He was an apprentice pirate on Gold Roger's crew at the same time as Shanks of the Yonkou. Oh, and he has a Devil Fruit power!"

Zoro sighed, "So we're just going to find this guy, beat him up, and take a map we don't need?"

Nami giggled, which didn't bother Zoro as much as he thought it it should. He wondered if he was losing grip on his sanity. "Capture him too, his bounty would be nice to get. It's fifteen million beri, pretty high for east blue."

* * *

Zoro fealt a bit uneasy as the two walked the empty streets, "Where the hell is everyone?"

Nami rolled her eyes, "Buggy probably scared them off. It's not very common to see a devil fruit user in east blue."

Zoro grunted, "What is a devil fruit anyways?"

Nami sighed, walking through the abandoned city was rather boring, and apparently her new companion wasn't as well versed in the seas as she'd hoped. "A devil's fruit gives someone a special ability but also gives them a deadly weakness. The weakness being water, and the ability usually being something crazy, so don't let it catch you off guard."

Zoro nodded, it's not like anything ever caught him off guard. "So Nami, what's with the getup? You look like a boy." She did. Her figure wasn't too impressive to look at when he first met her, but with this outfit it wasn't even there. She was currently wearing a tight red shirt, black pants, and denim jacket. Her face also seemed a bit different, some sort of makeup, probably. Zoro was a bit confused as to why her breasts seemed to have disappeared, but deciphering what she had done on his own would be much too troublesome.

Nami grinned her disturbing grin, "Disguises are one of my specialties, I need to keep in practice. I figure if I change my looks enough, it will take longer before the marines give me a bounty."

Nami's grin faltered when a loud explosion rang out, followed by a figure falling from the sky crashing into the ground right in front of them.

Before the smoke cleared, a voice mumbled, "Why'd they shoot me with a cannon? Damn it… At least I'm on the ground."

Nami and Zoro were both struck speechless for a moment. It's not every day that someone falls from the sky, unharmed no less.

The boy, wearing a distinctive straw hat, turned to them tilted his head, "Who are you guys?"

Zoro growls, "The better question here is who are you?"

The boy blinks and grins, "Are you deaf? That's what I just asked!"

Nami smiled at the boy, "I'm Nami and this is Zoro. We're here to take down Captain Buggy and steal his map to the Grand Line. Want to help?"

The boy nodded, "Nice to meetcha, I'm Luffy. I could use that map. I'll be headed to the Grand Line after I get a crew." He blinked, suddenly remembering something, he turned toward Zoro with excitement in his eyes, "You're Zoro! I was looking for you. Want to join my crew?"

Zoro chuckles, "Too late kid, I just joined hers."

Luffy turned back to Nami, "You're a girl? Wow! You've got to be the least girly girl I've ever seen! Unless maybe that Alvida person was a girl. She looked more like a gorilla though." He shruged, "Hmm, I guess you'll have to join my crew too. That way Zoro will have to join! Sound like a plan?"

Nami blinked at him for a few seconds, her mouth hanging open, clearly unsure of how to respond, eventually she decided to just flat out say what she meant, "No. If you want to join my crew I might just let you, but we're not going to join yours."

"Aw, come on! It will be fun! We'll have a big ship and lots of meat! Oh, and a musician!" He had a grin on his face that Zoro could only compare to the grin Nami usually wore, and however impossible it may have been, this guy's seemed to be even more annoying.

"Listen Luffy, she said no. When the captain says no, she means no. Now either help us out or leave us alone."

Luffy blinked at him, "But I've decided. You two are joining my crew."

Nami frowned and leaned toward him, "You know what I've decided?"

"No. What?" Asked Luffy, apparently he was very curious.

Nami poked him on the forehead "You." She poked him again. "Are." She poked him one more time, this time the poke caused him to go flying down the street far enough away that he landed out of sight. "An idiot."

"Well, now that we've dealt with the idiot, let's say we get on with this?"

Zoro's answer was slightly delayed, as he was trying to comprehend the fact that a simple poke was able to send the guy flying.

"Uh… yeah, whatever you say captain."

* * *

"So, the guy we're stealing the map from is a clown living in a circus tent?"

She grinned her annoying grin, "Yup!"

"And he's supposed to be one of the most dangerous pirates in East Blue?"

She nodded, "Remember, East Blue is supposed to be the weakest of the four. Okay, so lets sneak aboard his ship and grab the map."

Zoro snorted, "You don't need that map, lets just challenge him to a fight and get this over with."

Nami pouted, "Aww, that's not half as fun!"

"Too bad." Zoro stepped out from their hiding place and approached the group of pirates, "Yo big nose!"

Suddenly the loud joyous noises of celebrating pirates disappeared, replaced by dead silence. "What did you call me?"

"Big Nose." Zoro just smirked at him.

"Zoro, don't underestimate him." Nami's voice was uncharacteristically serious.

Buggy adopted a smirk, "Listen to the little boy, Zoro. You may have come for my bounty, but instead I will be known as the one who defeats the feared pirate hunter!"

Nami giggled, "You want to become more well known? At this point you'd just attract the Marines."

"Shut up, boy. Maybe I'll go easy on you once I take care of Zoro here."

Nami just rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah, whatever."

Buggy suddenly pulled eight knives out from under his coat and charged at Zoro, who responded in kind. A second later, all that was left of Buggy was several chopped up pieces.

"There, that enough proof I'm ready for you?" Zoro lazily asked Nami, while Buggy's crew started laughing hysterically.

Nami suddenly tossed a knife of her own right next to Zoro, which hit something and pinned it against a wall. It was Buggy's disembodied hand.

"Use your brain you idiot, that's the only help I'm giving you in this fight. I already told you he ate a devil's fruit, you can't just dismiss him that easily. His crew was even laughing at your stupidity."

Zoro was immediately back on guard, eyeing the various floating body parts. He considered objecting to Nami's insult, but decided that it wasn't worth the effort.

"So, cutting you doesn't work. It takes seeing something like that to believe it. I won't let you catch me off guard again."

"Like you even stand a chance, Zoro. Even if you chop me up into tiny pieces, I won't be hurt a bit."

Zoro sheathed his swords, smirking, "I may be a swordsman, but I don't need my swords to take on the likes of you."

Buggy cackled, "Oh, how sad. The little swordsman has lost his mind." His hands, full of knives, shot towards Zoro. Zoro easily dodged them, ending up next to a sack full of food.

He grinned, "This will work perfectly."

He dumped the food out of the sack while constantly doging Buggy's attacks. He nearly missed a swift kick aimed at his knee, but twisted out of the way just in time while snatching up Buggy's lower body inside the bag. He turned again just as Buggy's left hand was about to stab through his back. With a swift chop he knocked the knives out of the hand before adding it to his growing bag of body parts.

"You fool! Do you really think you can stop me like that? I can just fly the bag over here… uh…" Buggy began to sweat, something was obviously going wrong.

Zoro chuckled, "Your feet can't fly, can they? If you could fly with your feet in tow, your legs wouldn't have stayed on the ground."

Buggy's face turned bright red and he began to shout incomprehensibly, charging at Zoro with all his remaining parts. This made it quite easy to catch the rest of him and tie him up inside the bag before smashing the whole thing repeatedly onto the ground until he stopped struggling.

"So, did I pass your test?" He turned to Nami, before freezing completely still, noticing that Buggy's entire entourage was laying bruised and battered on the ground.

Nami smiled her goofy grin, "I guess so. I had hoped he would put up more of a fight, but people with powers like that often do let their skills slip. Anyways, you used your brain and that will give you a big enough advantage over most people on the sea. Remember that."

Just then, an explosion came from the coast.

"Did your boat just explode?" asked Zoro.

Nami rolled her eyes, then pointed in the opposite direction "We docked over there. It's the opposite side of town. Maybe I was wrong, you are quite an idiot."

Zoro started to say something, but suddenly, that strawhat kid came crashing down from the sky again. This time he was on top of a giant Lion.

"Oi! Zoro! Nami! Look what I found. He was on a ship with all sorts of treasure. I was gonna eat him at first, but then I had so much fun fighting with him that I decided he was gonna join my crew."

"Your shanghaiing a lion?" asked Nami.

"Shang-what-ing?"

"Never mind." Nami rubbed her forehead, hoping this kid wouldn't cause them too much trouble.

"Oh yeah! I had to fight a guy with a fuzzy head and a sword juggler riding a unicycle to keep him. It was so much fun!"

"Sounds like a great time. Well, Zoro and I really do have to get going now. I guess we'll see you around."

"Okay, bye!" Luffy waved as the two ran off with the bag. A few minutes after they were out of sight a thought suddenly came to his mind, "Hey! Wait a minute! They're supposed to be on my crew, I can't just let them run away." Just as he was about to run after them, he was distracted again as a piece of paper floated down in front of him. It took him several minutes to figure out what it was, but he eventually managed to determine it was the map to the Grand Line he had heard about.


	3. Dealing with Pests

A/N: Sorry if this chapter goes by a bit too quickly, but the events before they end up in the grand line aren't going to be very detailed. Also, as you can tell from this chapter, I'm not one to write overly intricate fight scenes. They're just not my thing and adding any more to the fight just felt like unnecessary padding.

**Dealing with Pests**

Zoro glared at Nami as they sailed to their next destination.

Nami's normal goofy grin was replaced by an uncharacteristic apologetic and nervous smile, "I'm sorry! Okay?"

"Sorry? You're not the one who had to spend the night rotting in a Marine prison cell!" His glare intensified.

"Hey! I got you out of there as quick as I could. How was I supposed to know that the bounty office would have heard about your arrest back in Shell Town?"

"You said that you were getting my records cleaned!" Zoro snapped at her.

"I did! Hence, when they called up Shell Town, they learned that the charges were dropped. It was only one night. Besides, shouldn't you be happy that you had extra time to sleep?" Her grin was fast returning.

"Sleep? Do you have any idea how uncomfortable those handcuffs are?"

Nami rolled her eyes, "Like anything could stop you from sleeping."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Didn't you say we'd be there soon?"

Nami's annoying smile now filled her face, "Yup! There it is." She pointed to the island directly behind Zoro, who turned around, getting his first look.

"So, this is where you grew up? Doesn't look like much. Why would that Arlong guy even bother with it?"

Nami's smile completely disappeared, replaced by an uncharacteristic scowl, "Because he's a coward!" She took a deep breath, "In truth, it's an easy target. It's a fairly large island, but it has a low population. Its main exports are only agricultural, so it's easy to replace any missing commerce. The Marines simply don't care what happens here. They sent one ship here when it first happened, but after that was destroyed they just decided it's easier for them to allow him free reign than do anything about it. In fact, I bet if he were human, they would have declared him a king and made the whole arrangement official. It's just not politically correct to a call a fishman a king, though in all but name that's what he has become. It's been eight long years since he arrived and the only presence from the world government has been in clear support of him."

Zoro continued to look at the island, "I guess that makes sense. So, captain, do we just charge in wherever this Arlong guy is and beat him up?"

Nami grin retuned, though silghtly lopsided, "Zoro, you need to remember what I keep telling you. Use your brain. Beating him in a direct fight may be possible, but it is not the best way to go about things."

Zoro grunted, "I don't see why not." He grinned, doing his best to annoy her as much as she annoyed him, "I doubt we'll have too much trouble."

Nami frowned, "Don't you dare make light of this! This isn't something I'm going to take chances with. I need this to work. He will not hesitate to kill either of us."

Zoro put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, I get it. You've got some sort of plan. Mind telling me what it is?"

Nami rolled her eyes, "Just follow me." She anchored the boat in a small cove, hiding it from easy view.

—

_***Five Days Later***_

"I can't believe you're actually doing this." Zoro stared at Nami.

"What? Don't you think it will work?"

Zoro grumbled, "Oh, I think it will work alright. It's just absolutely crazy."

"If it works, then it obviously isn't too crazy." Nami grinned.

"Just make sure it doesn't end up killing us."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm real good with this stuff."

"You say that about everything."

"And have I ever been wrong?"

Zoro sighed, "Whatever. Just tell me when it's time to attack."

"Won't that be rather obvious?"

"I mean, before that."

"Oh, then I guess It's time right now, the fuse is already lit."

Zoro's eyes went wide, "Don't you need to cut the string?"

"Wait a second. The timing with the others needs to be perfect."

"You're cutting it pretty close."

"Now!" Nami cut the string holding back the make-shift catapult in front of her, launching something directly inside of Arlong Park.

After a few seconds of waiting, Zoro commented, "Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"

*BOOM!*

Zoro clamped his hands over his ears, "Damn, that was loud!" He turned and saw a giant plume of smoke rising up from where he assumed Arlong was. "Where the hell did you get those explosives!"

Nami's grin threatened the tear her face in two, "I learned a bit about making bombs from a friend of a friend. Besides, it wasn't that much, most of that smoke is from the ones we put under the walls."

"You… made… Ugh! Never mind, of course you made the bombs. You can do anything."

"Now you're getting it."

"So, time to go in and beat up whatever's left?"

"Yup. It's finally time to end this."

—

Arlong grunted as he pulled himself out of the rubble that was Arlong Park. He surveyed the damage, looking at the many dead bodies of his underlings scattering the area. Noticing some movement, he smashed a nearby slab of stone, freeing the struggling form of Hatchan underneath.

The octopus fishman pulled himself to his knees, tears streamed from his eyes, "Who would do such a thing? Such a careless waste of life. What kind of evil could be behind this devestation?" He barely managed to dodge the sword that slashed through where is head had been but a moment ago, "Agh! My hair!"

Hatchan tilted his head as he looked at the swordsman who had nearly sliced his head off, "Hey! That wasn't very nice! I'll forgive you if you help us find who did this to the place though."

Arlong growled, "Hatchan, just shut up." Turning to Zoro, "I take it Nami hired you to take us down? I had really hoped that the girl had finally learnt her place. I don't know if I'll be able to forgive her for massacring my people." He would have continued, but was interrupted when he was suddenly struck in the head and smashed into a pile of rubble.

"You definitely won't be able to forgive me, Arlong. You'll be dead." She calmly stated. Her face remained expressionless as Arlong got back on his feet,.

"Girl, you've gotten stronger. You've definitely been holding back these past few years." He spat some blood on the ground, "A weak human like you only has a couple of ways of getting strong enough to punch like that. No matter how good you are though, it's still not enough to beat me. If you stop this foolishness right now, I'll let you live. Otherwise, you and everyone on this pathetic island is dead."

Nami's emotionless glare, intensified into a hate-filled scowl, she looked like she was about to say something, stopped herself, her calm determination returning. She charged at Arlong, barely noticing the swords of Zoro and Hatchan clashing nearby, she was swinging her hand down, about to throw something at Arlong's feet, but her hand was caught mid-throw, in the crushing grip of Arlong's webbed fist. Smoke exploded from her hand as he caught it. "Haki. The color of armaments. Impressive." Commented the grinning fishman, "But even with that, your weak body can only hold up to so much. You obviously know as much or else you wouldn't be attempting cheap tricks to distract me. I don't see what that smoke bomb was supposed to accomplish."

Nami's face never faltered as she attempted to free her arm from the impossibly strong grip.

Arlong looked away for a moment, and his menacing grin grew even bigger, "Ah, it looks like we're welcoming another guest."

Nami chanced a glance to the side and her eyes widened in horror. The fishman known as Chu, was holding her struggling sister, "Nojiko!"

Arlong chuckled, as he squeezed Nami's arm tighter, "Did you really think I wouldn't know you were up to something? I had no idea it would be something of this scale, but I do like to be prepared. You do seem to have such attachment to this one, we both know you won't let her be harmed. Give up now, Nami. It's over." Seeing her still defiant face, he motioned to Chu, who begain to raise a knife to Nojiko's neck.

Nami's face lit up in fury, she screamed, "No!"

Arlong's grin changed to surprise as he felt the intense force coming from Nami. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but it certainly surprised him. He frowned as he noticed Chu's eyes rolling into the back of his head, and then he felt a sudden pain in his chest. That's the last thing he ever felt.

As Arlong's grip relaxed, Nami was about to rush to Nojiko's aid, but before she could do anything, a fist came out of nowhere slamming into Chu's face.

Nami blinked, as Nojiko easily freed herself now that the fishman had been knocked away, she turned to see the fist fly backwards towards the one face that she didn't want to see, "Nami! I'm here to help!" It was Luffy riding on top of that ridiculous giant Lion.

Nami growled, "Help? You could have hurt Nojiko!"

Luffy tilted his head, "Huh? But that guy was going to hurt her."

"He was unconscious!"

"He was standing!" Luffy shouted back.

"I had just knocked him out!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that?"

Nami took a deep breath, managing to reign in her temper, "Luffy… Sorry for yelling, I guess I do appreciate the gesture, but it really wasn't necessary." Nami ran over to Nojiko to make sure she was okay.

Luffy turned to see a heavily breathing Zoro standing over the battered bodies of an octopus fishman and a ray fishman, "So where's this Arlong guy?"

Zoro turned to him, then turned toward the dead body of Arlong and pointed.

"Aww, he's already dead? I came here to save the island for Nami so she wouldn't keep running away."

After being reassured that Nojiko's injuries weren't serious, Nami approached Luffy, "And who told you about me and Arlong in the first place?"

Luffy pointed behind him, where a blond man in a suit and a curly-haired boy in overalls were approaching.

The curly-haired boy shouted in agreement, "Yes, I, the great _Captain Ussopp_ know much about the infinite tales of the sea! No tale as sad as the fate of Commi island can escape my notice!"

Ussopp's shouts ended, after a swift kick to the head from the blond man, who grabbed Nami's hand, "What he means to say, my beautiful Nami, is that I overheard some traders who used to live here bemoaning the fate of the island. They mentioned a young girl named Nami joining the pirates in an attempt to save them all. When our dear captain mentioned your name, I knew that such a wonderful girl as he described could be no other than the fearless young maiden from the tale. As soon as the connection was made, we made haste to come to your rescue." He finished by planting a kiss on the back of her hand.

Nami's eyes were wide as she heard this, causing Sanji to think she was touched by his words. However the backhand across his face quickly broke that assumption, "Gah! I should have dressed like a boy today. I don't know how you did that, but turning your eyes into hearts had to be the creepiest thing I've ever seen!"

As Nami wiped off her hand, Luffy caught her attention, "So now that Arlong is dead, you'll join my crew, right?"

Nami frowned, "No. I've told you before and I'll tell you again. I'm not joining your crew. Besides, I'm the one who killed Arlong, not you."

"But he died right when I arrived, that means it must have been me!."

"I had just poisoned him, you idiot, it just took a while before it stopped his heart."

Luffy looked like he was about to insist, but he noticed something in her eyes, instead he pouted and then asked, "But still, why won't you join my crew?"

Nami sighed, pointing above Luffy's head, "That hat, it used to belong to Shanks, didn't it?"

Luffy nodded, "Yeah, you know him? Do you know where he is?"

Nami nodded, "I met him when I was young. Just after Arlong arrived. After he caught me stealing from his ship, Shanks decided to help me deal with Arlong. He could have done it himself pretty easily, but I think it's like that teach a man to fish saying."

"Fish? He taught you to fish?"

Nami blinked, "Never mind that. He helped me get strong enough so I could defeat Arlong myself. I didn't see him often, but once every few years he'd find me and teach me a bit. He also introduced me to some other people who could help me get stronger. I think he had a habit of helping kids in need achieve their goals. He mentioned you a few times. Monkey D. Luffy, the kid he gave his hat to. The young kid that reminded him of himself at that age. He'd always encourage me to get better, and he certainly knew I could take on Arlong, but I could tell from his smile and his eyes, he didn't believe I could actually achieve my real dream. Not really anyways. He didn't tell me outright, and he always encouraged me, but he didn't think I really had enough potential."

Luffy frowned, "What's your _real_ dream?"

Nami shook her head, "It doesn't really matter. The point is, he didn't think I'd be able to do it. He didn't think I'd have the ability to make fundamental changes in the world. It wasn't that he didn't want me to, it's just he didn't think it possible. But he did think you had the potential. The way he talked about you, he couldn't wait for you to get out there and become Pirate King. He gave me hints that I should try to join you if I ever met you, but I just can't do that. It might be selfish, but I need to prove to myself that I can change the world in my own way. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try. I'd consider joining you, but our goals are too different, we'd only get in each other's way."

Luffy, as impossible as it sounds, actually looked thoughtful for once, "Okay. I don't think I really get it, but you can't join without giving up on your dream." He smiled wide, "So, after your dream comes true, then you should join!"

Nami giggled at that, "Or maybe if your dream comes true first, you could join my crew."

Luffy turned up his nose at that, "The Pirate King doesn't join other crews."

Nami smirked, "I thought the Pirate King did whatever he wants."

Luffy nodded and smacked his fist with his other hand, "Oh yeah! I guess that could work."

Nami reached a hand forward, "So, I won't join your crew, but we can still be friends."

Luffy's smile grew to equal Nami's as he reached to shake her hand, "Sounds good to me."


End file.
